


Set Us On Lightning

by faerietell



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Growing Up Together, Star-crossed, Ugh, a good way for me not to do my homework
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-03-23 07:00:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3758824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faerietell/pseuds/faerietell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they sent the last waterbender of the South to the Fire Nation as hostage, they never expected her to set the young prince's heart on lightning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Storm

**Storm**  
**(n) a violent disturbance in the atmosphere**

 

They sent her away to keep the world together safe when she was seven. It wasn’t just that she was the daughter of a Chief, nobility in her own right, or that her eyes were the _blueblueblue_ of the Water Tribes. It wasn’t even that water played at her hands like a horn at a musician’s lips. She knew her father hated to do what must be done, and she clung to him when she said goodbye, already missing the snow and ice. Sokka wrapped his arms around hers in a quick hug (“Write to me about the food – no, no, send _samples_ – and no boys”). Her mother gave her the necklace, and she held onto it tightly as the ship brought her away.

It was a peace offering. Give the Fire Nation the last waterbender of the South, a noble daughter of the Earth Kingdom (because they wanted nothing of a crazy king) and a princess of the North. They asked nothing of the Air Nomads. There weren’t any left.

“Am I getting married then?” Katara had asked her mother, biting her lips. “I wanted to get married here.”

“I don’t know,” Kya smiled kindly as she bent down so she was level with her daughter. “They might. But remember, be strong. Have courage. Don’t forget who you are.”

The icy wind breezed back her dark hair, snow dusting her slender hands, and Katara doubted she could ever forget. Still, she clutched to her mother’s necklace just in case the sea swept her identity away along with her home.

 

: :

 

The crew kept an eye on her, but she was young enough for them not to be cruel. They didn’t like her on deck, not when she was surrounded by the sea. Katara loved it. She could feel the sting of the ocean tugging at her skin, her bones and then her heart thudding in her chest. Midway through the journey, she stole a sword.

She had hidden it till she could sneak on deck at night. La, it was heavy. Somehow in the rush of adrenaline, it had weighed nothing in her hands. Now she could hardly move it, let alone bring it down in the definite strokes she had seen the soldiers practice.

“What are you doing?” The voice was curious not cruel. She hated it anyways.

“What does it look like?” She snapped, tightening her clumsy grip on the sword.

Prince Zuko. He was Fire Nation in a way the soldiers and sailors weren’t with the gold of his eyes and the royal crests and gold he wore. From what she heard, he had been required to come to gain experience. His sister had been allowed on the other ship for Princess Yue.

He was defensive now. “It looks like you’re breaking the rules.” He wrinkled his nose as he looked her over. “And looks like you don’t even know how to fight.”

She was indignant. “I do too!”

“You’re a water tribe peasant,” he told her condescendingly.

“ _You’re_ a boy,” she glared, hands trembling with the effort it took to keep the sword up. “And my name is _Katara._ ”

He noticed. “Put that down.”

She frowned. “I don’t have to listen to you. You’re not an elder.”

“I’m a prince,” he told her haughtily.

She shrugged. “So?”

To the seven year old’s satisfaction, he looked flustered at the question. “So I’m royal.”

“So?” This worked with almost everyone but Sokka. Sokka was too idiotic for it to work. A sudden bout of homesickness swept over her at the thought of him, and the blade clattered to her feet. While their bickering had been unheard under the crashing of the ocean, the metal against wood wasn’t. Every soldier’s ears were trained for the sound of a blade, and two swooped down almost at once.

Katara’s breath caught in her throat as one asked, “what’s going on?”

“I… “ Katara had never liked lying. It felt wrong. Only she was willing to do what it took.

“I was showing the peasant how to use a sword properly,” Zuko’s words were too haughty for her to be grateful, and she didn’t have to feign the glare she threw them.

The other soldier nodded. “As you wish, your highness.” The amusement was palpable on her features, but both soldiers left them alone.

“You can thank me,” Zuko said.

She almost didn’t. Then she remembered what her mother said, and she reached out to catch his hand, squeezing it because that was who Katara was. Kind. “Thank you, Zuko.”

He almost looked startled, yellow eyes too bright for the night. “Prince Zuko,” he corrected.

Diplomatic, she decided to ignore that. “Will you though?” She asked, hand still tangled in his. He didn’t shake her off.

“Will I what?” He pushed a hand through his dark hair.

“Teach me how to use a sword.”

“No, of course not,” he pulled back, kind of defiant, kind of unsure. “You’re the enemy.”

Katara scowled at him. “I’m going to bed.”

“Well, so am I.” He turned around and strode off before she could which was _so_ annoying. She just knew he did it on purpose. She huffed, turning to do the same, only bending down to take the blade with her.

 

: :

 

They were getting closer to land, and Agni, Zuko was glad. The sea rocked under his feet, and he had spent the first week pretending he wasn’t sick. He brought his hands down in a deft motion, completing the basic form before pivoting to try it again. By the time they got to the Fire Nation, he would be better. Then Father would see, and he would be proud.

As fire burst from his palms, red-gold, he ignored the blue eyes watching him. He also ignored his Uncle talking to her. It probably was about tea. Or something probably boring. He punched out another flame, pretending he didn’t care. As he spun, movements sharp and concise, he caught a word of their conversation. _Turtleducks._ What was his uncle doing talking to the waterbender about _turtleducks_?

He clasped his hands together, ending the form. Zuko bowed to the sun in thanks to Agni before he crossed the deck to where his uncle was. He ignored the girl. “When do we get home?”

“Soon, Prince Zuko,” Uncle Iroh told him, a warm smile crinkling the creases on his face. “We reach the Earth Kingdom before sunset. I am told Lady Bei Fong is sweet of tongue and heart. Perhaps you’ll make a friend.”

Katara snorted.

Zuko continued to ignore her. “Perhaps Lu Ten will get married.”

Uncle Iroh’s smile dissipated into a thoughtful frown. Then he smiled. “Grandchildren!”

Zuko slumped his head against the ledge of the boat, gold eyes staring off into the horizon and groaned.

Katara giggled.

 

: :

 

A blind-eyed (she didn’t like to call it green when she didn’t know what green was) five year old brushed her hair out of her eyes and wondered if it was appropriate to pack one of her trunks with mud.

Then she wondered if she cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n  
> This is completely and utterly impulse, so any thoughts or feedback is more than loved. I’ll try to update frequently, but it’s a bit drabble and a bit chapter, so we’ll see. Reviews are better than cupcakes. Thanks loves!


	2. Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n  
> Ugh, I had so much muse for this, and it just somehow happened. It’s on the short side, and the next chapter might be longer or shorter. I know the kids are acting a little grown-up, Katara and Toph especially, but that’s a deliberate choice. I feel that they need to act that way to be sort of secure with themselves the best they can, and Toph’s just like eager about how much bigger this new cage is for her. I hope you guys liked Azula because she was definitely my favorite of this chapter. And hopefully my Toph was okay -- she's just so badass it's hard to get her down.
> 
> The kudos I got were incredibly inspiring, and I’d love to hear more feedback and thought this chapter too. That’s what keeps me going after all.

**Game**   
**(n) a form of play or sport**

 

Lady Bei Fong was not sweet of tongue and heart.

He remembered when the waterbender girl had boarded the ship. He had drew a careful breath in and out, regulating his body temperature in the cold that threatened to drown him like the ocean below. He remembered seeing the little girl with dark hair, dark skin and eyes bluer than any he had ever seen as she clung to her people, crying and hugging. Azula would have said she was being weak, but Zuko thought that he might have done the same if it was his mother or his Uncle Iroh he was saying goodbye to.

Not his father – his father would agree with Azula.

She had nothing with her but a few possessions carried in a bag. She didn’t look like nobility, but his uncle told him that it was more than her blood, it was that she could bend water. He knew that waterbenders could start storms, could change the tides of the oceans, and could stop the rain. He knew they were _dangerous_.

She didn’t look dangerous though.

Lady Bei Fong – or Toph, as he had to call her after she subtly made an attempt on his life (“oh, calm down, Sparky, think of it more an at-tempt on your pride”) for calling her the Lady  Bei Fong – had arrived a docile young girl in a white dress, dark hair swept back, green eyes blank but steady. She hugged her parents quickly, and her attendants carried trunks and trunks into the ship. That was what he had been expecting. He just hadn’t expected her to push apart her hair and demand a garden on the ship.

Really, all the crew was wasting their time by watching Katara avidly when she was on deck. She could barely waterbend. It was Toph that was the danger. She was loud, demanding and brash. He guessed that the crew was just used to nobility like that. It was Katara’s strange quietness and kindness that perplexed them. It perplexed him too. They weren’t alone in that.

So when she drew closer to him a few days later, eyes so perfectly clear that he could hardly believe she couldn’t see, he was wary. Especially when her mouth opened. “I’m bored, Sparky. Your training exercises are boring.” She had been observing them for the past few days. She had been quiet, almost withdrawn at first. Then she was thunder, and everything she did was heard. “You should _spar_ someone.”

“They’re not boring,” he told the five year old, indignant because they were boring. She was just as smart as Azula was when she was five which was kind of terrifying. “And there’s no one here to spar except my uncle.”

“There’s Sugar Queen.” Toph said.

“No.”

“Ugh, you’re boring. Why not?”

“I don’t want to,” there was no point in giving her reasons that – “ _ow_.” He glared at her, rubbing his ribs. For being blind, she could punch well. He couldn’t even punch back because she was a girl and blind.

“That’s a dumb reason.”

“It wouldn’t be honorable to spar Katara when she barely knows waterbending,” he amended.

“Sounds like you’re afraid.”

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “I’m _not_ afraid.” Before she could press her point, he went on to say, “but I’m not sparring Katara.” With that, he got up to see if he could convince a crew member to spar swords and not fire with him.

He should have known Toph would go to his uncle.

 

: :

 

 

There was something about the North had made Azula not want to burn it down. The fire in her, the flames in her blood – it was so potent at times that Azula swore it was hurting. It burned beneath her skin, crackled in her lungs and sent her heart thudding. She had asked her brother once how it felt to be a firebender, to be always consumed with heat and flames.

“It’s not like that, ‘Zula,” he had told her, brows furrowed in confusion as he glanced over her. “It’s… like a sun at the center of your body. You draw from it. It’s your source of power.”

“And if the sun’s too big?” Azula asked him. It was nothing like a sun to her. It wasn’t a faint warmth, candlelight on her skin. It was all-consuming. It was the rage of wildfire contained in her lithe body.

Zuko gave her a look. “Then you _control_ it.”

Sometimes she could. Sometimes it was just candlelight like her brother had said. Those were her good days. She smiled more those days. Sometimes she couldn’t. Those were her bad days. During those days, she could be smiling as she razed cities upon cities. In the North, she could. It was shudderingly cold, and the sun was so far away it made her ache, but she had never been in such total control.

Azula didn’t know if she loved it or hated it.

What she did know was that was beautiful as the North was with its ice and snow, their people were more stupid than Zuko. They had been nice enough to her at the start, but they almost refused to believe that the ship captain was a woman. They insisted on speaking to Lu Ten instead. “I could just murder them,” she fumed, hands curled up into fists and hung stiffly by her sides.

“What did your mother say about murder?” Lu Ten only teased her. Lu Ten was also stupid if marginally less stupid than Zuko. When he had been at Ba Sing Se, he brought her back a _doll_.

She glared at him before her expression smoothened into a sweet smile, reaching out to stomp on his foot.

“ _Azula_.”

“What?” She asked sweetly.

“Why don’t you go talk to Princess Yue? Make her feel welcome.”

Azula wrinkled her nose. “Why would I do that? She’s a hostage.”

Lu Ten sighed.

 

: :

 

 

Pai Sho. Katara had played the game with General Iroh a few times (who called her Lady Katara even though she was no lady, but he said that he was no general – and that was a _lie_ because everyone she asked said he was a general) who took a liking to her when she had taken the white lotus gambit. She had told him it was because she thought it was pretty, he only laughed kindly. It wasn’t with him she played today. It was with Zuko.

Because Toph wanted them to spar.

“This will test your precision and accuracy,” he told them both, setting the board. “As well as your strategy. Instead of using your hand to move the tiles, you must use your elements. Katara, your water, Zuko, your fire.”

“Why isn’t Toph playing?” Zuko asked, turning to glare at the younger girl.

Toph smiled brightly. “I’m blind, Sparky”

After a few mistakes and a long hour (“Agni, Katara, move your tiles not mines” “I thought you could use the help winning”), she had enough of a grasp on it to chance conversation. Flicking the heel of her hand to use water to push her air tile forward – it was funny how Pai Sho still had all the elements even though they no longer existed in this world – she asked Zuko, “what will it be like? Being a hostage?”

He didn’t glance up to meet her eyes, only carefully propelling a fire tile forward. It was harder for him. It wasn’t truly with heat that the tiles moved but with the burst of air created from the flames. She supposed air wasn’t truly gone from the world. It still existed with the other elements. Not to mention Toph liked to mix up the board every once in a while by accident. Or so she said. “You’re a lady, so I guess you’ll be treated well. You’re a girl so you’ll spend lots of time with my sister.”

“So, I won’t be… put in the dungeons or anything?” Katara asked him, moving her earth tile diagonally to create a defense. Zuko’s strategy was wholeheartedly offensive, and it was enough for her to use it against him.

“Spirits, no,” he dismissed. “You’ll be put with my sister. That’s worse.”


	3. Thrones

**Throne**

**(n) a ceremonial chair for a sovereign**

 

“What happens now?”

Their voyage had been nothing more than an intermission in the story that they would write, and Zuko had no doubt that there would be a story written (at least, that was what Uncle Iroh told him, and he was usually right). It was only a respite, and somehow that had been forgotten in the days of sea in their lungs and games of Pai Sho where no one touched a tile.

He glanced to the side at the blue-eyed waterbender whose hands were trembling at her sides. Even though she was a girl and Azula’s age, she was pretty okay. “Nothing much. You’ll go to the throne room and bow to my grandfather – he’s the Fire Lord – and he’ll say something, and then some maid will lead you to a room.” He snorted. “A nicer room than the ones on the ship.”

Katara frowned, watching Toph and Iroh as they met with the others. They were lagging behind, but Zuko couldn’t bring himself to care. “And I’ll still see you and Toph?”

“You’ll be spending more time with my sister, I guess – that’s her,” he nodded at the seven year old girl who smirked at their direction.

“Good,” it was eerie seeing the same smirk on her mouth. “You can’t get rid of me so easily.” The darkness in her features shifted, and it was just light again. Then a giggle and, “catch me!”

Girls were _weird_. He shook his head, but he couldn’t let her win. Katara had a head start, but Zuko was _faster._ He had caught her arm by the time they reached the others, but he couldn’t even hold it over her because she was laughing which meant she didn’t care. Then he didn’t care either because just as he had caught onto Katara, his eyes caught onto his cousin.

“Lu Ten,” he called out, grinning.

“Zuko,” the crown prince returned, ruffling his cousin’s dark hair.

“Ugh,” he made a face, but it was all too nice to see his cousin after so many weeks.

“Do you have any idea,” Azula began with a scowl, walking up to meet the two of them, “how many times he did that to me?” She threw him a glare.

“I’m sure Lu Ten is very fortunate you love your country, Azula,” Iroh laughed, his eyes all shiny when he glanced over the three of them. Katara had called them twinkling as if the stars overhead could be contained in his uncle’s gaze.

“Course I love the Fire Nation,” Azula said.

“Why is that, Father?” Lu Ten asked, wary.

He beamed. “She would spare no one less than the crown prince for a crime like that.”

Azula threw her head back and let out a laugh before her gaze grasped onto Zuko, and she neared him, a smile still playing on her lips. “No hello for me?”

“Hello, Azula,” he greeted his sister.

She looked like she was about to say something else, but her gaze wandered to Katara next. “And this must be the waterbender?”

“I’m Katara,” she defiantly tilted her chin back, answering before Zuko could. “You must be the princess Zuko warned me about.” Zuko felt like he was going to set something on fire. She even referred to his sister as a princess.

Azula glanced at him before taking Katara’s arm in hers, sweeping them both forward into the royal gates of the palace. “Don’t listen to him. Zuko’s boring.” She whispered into Katara’s ears, and the waterbender laughed.

Zuko glared at their retreating figures.

 

**: :**

 

 

He was glad for the flames. Not because of the dominance and authority it displayed but for the red-gold glare that hid his face from all. The hands that clutched to his throne were gnarled, and the lines on his face was from an aching exhaustion no Fire Lord would admit to. He was tired of this life, but he didn’t dare die. The Fire Lord had ended the war out of exhaustion, not kindness.

They couldn’t see his face as they entered, but they were afraid. He was glad of that too, and then in the same time, he was saddened. All of those who had never feared him had passed on from this world, and it was only him that was left to burn. It was a family affair. It had to be. This was the end of a war that had waged on for years upon years.

Iroh. Then the spot where his wife should have stood. Ozai burning with amibition. Ursa’s kind smile. Lu Ten, laughing eyes and a soldier’s stance. Scowling Zuko with his too hopeful heart. Brilliant, beautiful Azula who would burn down the world if someone dared to give her a match.

Then the hostages.

Where his family only bowed before straightening, a sign of the nobility in their veins, all three of the girls were kneeling. Two of them knew how to, but one of them feigned otherwise. “Rise,” the Fire Lord croaked, and the flames rose with the girls. “Speak.”

They glanced at each other (or the blind one seemed to), unsure.

Princess Yue was as true as the winter she was born in, and the moon and tides clung to her. She was blest. “I thank you, Fire Lord,” she began, voice clear and true even at seven, “for the hospitality you have shown us.”

He didn’t respond, waiting for the second to speak. She didn’t though, but Prince Zuko whispered her name, one that could be heard even beneath the crackling flames.

 _Katara_. Her eyes were as blue as the element that ran in her veins as fire did in his. “Fire Lord, thank you for bringing this war to an end and showing kindness on my people. I hope your kindness will honor this agreement for the years to come.” It was a warning as much as it was a request. He wondered if she knew that yet. Something in her young gaze told him she did.

“Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ ,” the five year old began fervently. “I never thought I’d get a far nicer gilded cage, Fire Lord. I’m forever grateful.” He didn’t doubt that her eyes saw far more than they appeared to. Had Lady Toph not been a child, had her name not carried the weight it did, he might have burned her. Her eyes told her she knew that.

He allowed the silence to fester. Then the Fire Lord spoke. “In three years, I will see you three again. You will show me what you have learned. You will enjoy the same privileges as Prince Zuko and Princess Azula might. You will earn what you deserve.” They were all beneath him, but it was beneath him to be cruel to children. “You are welcome, Princess Yue. And I hope so as well, Lady Katara. Your gratitude is acknowledged, Lady Toph.”

The silence festered.

“Leave me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n icky chapter but once in a while you need those transition chapters you feel?  
> as always, I’d love feedback as much as Zuko loves Katara – or will, anyways


	4. Weird

**Weird**

**(adj) something uncanny, (n) someone’s destiny**

It was six months later, and Zuko couldn’t look at her without reddening. In those very first days on the ship, he had scared her with those gold eyes and that temper that blazed like fireworks in the sky. Now though, she knew that his hands fumbled, that his words got caught in his throat and somehow he just never knew what to do or say. He was awkward and ten years old and he couldn’t look at her without turning red.

Which was _weird_.

Zuko never backed down from anything Katara did to him, and the tutors had to tear him away from their staring contests. (Record for gold meeting blue was nine minutes and thirty-four seconds.)

“Azula,” she hissed as she sat down next to the princess and Yue on the bench. “Your brother’s acting _weird_.”

She dismissed it, picking at the grass beneath her feet. “Zuzu’s is weird.”

Yue tilted her head curiously at her, silver-white hair almost gold when it caught the sun like that. “Why? What did he do?”

She hugged her knees. “He’s turning red. Every time he looks at me.”

“Oh,” Yue weighed this over. “I think he did that to me too!”

Katara gasped, eyes brightened by that feeling of someone out there who understood. “Isn’t it weird?”

The princess now gained interest, crossing one leg beneath the other as she sought out where the three girls could see Zuko training in the distance. “I guess we should find out.” She straightened to her feed, gaze commandingly sweeping over the other two, one older than her and the other the same age. “Stay here. I have contacts.”

Katara did as she said, more out of curiosity than anything. Then, after a long moment, she asked the other water tribe girl, “does she have friends?”

“Azula?” Yue asked.

“Mhm,” she swung her legs. “Besides us, I mean.”

“Us?”

“Course.”

“Yue reached out to catch her wrist, dark fingers grasping tightly. She would have pulled away had it not been for the urgency in the girl’s eyes and in her voice as she leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Katara, don’t _forget_.” Then she pulled away like nothing had happened, leaving the words to throb and thud in her head. She wanted to ask what Yue meant, but there was no reason to, not when she knew the answer.

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to remember and then forget again as Azula reached them, flanked by two other noble-born girls. Katara had met Mai in one of her lessons before (Mai, of course, wasn’t a student but rather a demonstration), but the other wasn’t known to her. “Katara, Yue,” Azula said. “This is Mai and Ty Lee.”

“Hi,” there was a bubbly laugh as the girl in pink straightened from the handstand she had been doing. “It’s _so_ nice to meet you. ‘Zula never mentioned you two had such gorgeous auras.”

Mai nodded once, dark eyes flickering uncertainly.

“You,” Azula nodded at a maid. “Get Lady Toph.” Her attention focused back on the girls already there.

Katara grinned. “Girls. We have a mission.”

 

: :

 

 

“They’ve gone crazy.” Zuko had foregone any greeting as he stumbled into the crown prince’s study, but he had never been the sort to bother unless he had to.

Lu Ten, however, did. “Hello, Zuko.” He arched his brows, but there was an amused smile playing on his mouth as he glanced down at his distraught cousin. “Who’s gone crazy?”

“The girls,” his eyes were wide as he took a seat.

Lu Ten nodded.  Ah. Girls. This would be a long conversation. He folded one arm over the other and thanked the Spirits it was him and not Lu Ten’s father that the prince went to. “Girls are crazy,” he agreed. They were. Absolutely and utterly mad.

“Mad.”

“Insane.”

“Impossible.”

“Raving.”

Zuko fidgeted before he burst out a, “Katara’s stalking me.”

Oh. Well. That was not the direction that Lu Ten had expected the conversation to go, but he could adapt as well as any waterbender. “Oh?”

“Well, Katara’s the only one I saw,” Zuko amended. “But I _know_ I heard Ty Lee too. And that means Azula and Mai have to be in on it too.” He crossed his arms to his chest, scowling. “I can’t take it!”

“Are you… sure, Zuko?”

“ _Yes_ ,” he insisted, straightening. “Something is up. I just don’t know _why_.”

This was strange, but he was sure he would hear many strange requests when he eventually took the throne. This was only a trial, and one he could certainly conquer. “Did you do anything to warrant this?” It was exactly the right question to ask because Zuko’s face turned a distinct red.

Now, what would his father say? “I think, Zuko,” he said. “You know the answer to this already.”

Zuko furrowed his brows before letting out a reluctant, “yeah.”

“So what is it?”

He fidgeted. Then it exploded out again.

“Katara asked me what _sex_ is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n   
> aha so now I actually do have a question for you guys – should I continue more from this vein or skip another six months to a drabble with them a little older?


	5. Seasons

**Seasons**

**(n.) the four divisions of the year**

 ( _It was sweltering, heat clinging to every shallow breath, and it was only the night that brought relief. The daughters of the ice and snow spent weeks sick, burning inside and out_.)

The air tasted of spice and heat, but Zuko was used to that. They weren’t though. There was a stirring sense of guilt as he peered into her room. Even though he knew avoiding her and her question had nothing to do with how fire had treated a girl composed of water (“Fire and water,” Ozai told his son before he knew either, “do not mix”), there was something about Katara that always made him feel guilty.

He blamed her eyes. And her sometimes sad smile. And the way she always cared. And how she called him stupid when he skinned his knees that one time (and then fixed it like his mother would -- Katara always mothered).

Still, Zuko was relieved when he found her sleeping form curled up in the sheets. He slowly stepped inside the room, taking note of the pretty shells that lined the room. He pressed a palm to her forehead like his mother did when he was sick, and it felt cool. She must be over it and sleeping it off. Yue, after all, had recovered completely yesterday and had been out with Toph and Ty Lee earlier.

Agni, he was surrounded by girls.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice how mischievous eyes brightened as soon as they caught him entering the room, and it wasn’t until he felt two small hands on ribs. Before he could react, he was pinned back onto the bed, a satisfied looking seven year old sitting on his chest. “Katara,” he protested. “Get off.”

“Nope,” she smiled brightly at him.

“I thought you were sick,” he told her, resentful.

“I got better this morning,” she patted his head, and it would have been patronizing if it hadn’t been Katara. Actually, it was still a little patronizing. “I’m glad you visited though.”

“I’d be glad if you weren’t well enough to do this,” Zuko decided it was best to save his energy to throw her off.

“You should be glad either way,” she told him, matter-of-fact. “Now tell me.”

He paled. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Zuko, son of Ozai and Ursa, tell me.”

“Katara, daughter of Hakota and Kya, no.”

She pouted. “Why not?”

“Ask your mother,” he regretted the words as soon as he said them, and while no shadow passed over her youthful features, her hands brushed over the necklace she wore. By now, he had figured it had something to do with her mother. He didn’t ask though.

“Tell.”

“Ask my mother then.” He was getting desperate now.

Katara wrinkled her nose. “I’m not asking Princess Ursa what sex is.”

“But you’ll ask Prince Zuko?” He groaned, the sound coming out a little strained because of the girl still sitting on top of him. Ugh.

“I’d ask Zuko, yeah.”

He couldn’t tell her. It was just - no, nope. Zuko would have to strike a deal somehow, but that had always been more his sister’s thing. “If you don’t ask me anything to do with that,” he bargained, “you can have any three questions. And I’ll answer them.”

She hesitated. “Promise?”

Zuko lifted up his hand to hers, fire licking his palm as he offered it up. She pulled water from the little flask she carried. Like ribbons, fire and water weaved and twisted around each other. “Promise,” he said, and he allowed the water to engulf his flames.

Katara slipped off him to lie down next to him instead - Spirits, he could breathe now - and didn’t wait long to pose her first question. “Why don’t you like Azula?”

He focused his gaze on the tiles above them. While they should be carefully patterned shades of whites and golds, Toph had taken the liberty to shake things up. Literally. “Of course you like Azula,” he complained instead of answering the question. Katara jabbed him at the sides.

“Answer.”

“She’s… “ He didn’t know how to explain the rivalry, the sickliness beneath the smiles. He didn’t know how to explain how he couldn’t protect her anymore like he used to be able to. He didn’t know how to explain the lies. He didn’t know how to explain the part of a girl who was only seven that scared him. “Azula always lies.”

“I know that,” Katara propped her head up in her hands to lean over to glance at him. He didn’t meet her gaze. “But why don’t you like her?”

“Ugh, I just --” He struggled. “She’s Azula, and I’m Zuko, and it’s not the same. Not like it used to be. And she’s a prodigy. At everything. She’s charming. Manipulative.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know what to tell you, Katara.”

“That’s enough,” she said, and she didn’t press for once in her life, and he was glad. “What’s your favorite color then?”

He gave her a startled look. “What?”

“Do I need to repeat the question?” The younger girl asked, a grin on her lips.

“No, uh,” well, he would take this blessing. “It’s red.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Typical firebender.”

Zuko glared. “What’s yours?”

She shrugged, unabashed. “Blue.”

“Typical waterbender.”

“I’m not typical.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m not.”

“If you say so.”

“Zuko!”

“Katara.”

“Ugh, I hate you.”

“I hate you more.”

“I hate you most.”

“Move over, will you?”

“It’s my bed.”

“It’s the Fire Nation’s bed, and I’m the prince. So, actually, it’s my bed.”

“Fine, more room.”

“Agni, get off me!”

“It’s Katara, actually. But that’s an easy mistake.”

“Don’t you want to ask another question?”

“I’ll save it for another time.”

“At least move a little to the side.”

“Better?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for coming, Zuko.”

“Yeah, Katara. Of course."

 

: :

 

 

 ( _Everything was dancing from the green-gold leaves off the trees in the hot winds to the light thread of steps as dancing lessons commenced_.)

Katara was a dancing kind of girl. Toph could tell. Every step she took kind of bounced, and she twisted and she weaved when she walked. She never stayed still, and Toph could understand that fervor, that energy in her bones that told her to move. At the age of six, she could sit out of the dancing classes and mock everyone. Mostly Katara. Because while the girl might have danced every step, the waterbender was at loss to the court dances.

“Ugh, she’s, like, beyond hope,” Chan told Toph after a class. “But she is a Water Tribe girl.”

“And?”

“Well, everyone knows they’re basically animals up there.”

Listening to Zuko complain about Katara was one thing. She liked Zuko. He carried her around on his back for two hours straight one time. She smiled a sweet smile. “Why don’t you practice with me one time?”

She could feel him shift on the bench. “You know how to, right? Cause you’re um five? And blind?”

“Six,” Toph corrected. “And I’m the Lady Bei Fong. Of course I know how to dance.” That much was true.

He stood up to his face, and she could practically feel some sort of infuriating expression. She could sense Ty Lee in the distance. She would have to get the acrobat to describe it to her when she was done. She placed her hand in his, smile still pasted to her face.

“Serpent’s waltz,” she called over lazily, and the music began swelling in the courtyard. She followed his movements, hand on the ten year old boy’s shoulder. As he clumsily twirled her out (Zuko danced better than he did), she flicked her wrist.

A rock lifted -- the thing about fire-proof palaces? they were made of earth -- and vaulted him onto the roof.

“Sorry, I’m blind.”

 

: :

 

 

 ( _The fire of the summers dimmed to ember just as the leaves of the autumn burned into red-gold flames – and like fire, no princess of water or fire left any stone unturned – as they descended into the mild winter._ )

Azula, for all intentions and purposes, rather liked Katara. She was far more intriguing than the girls at the academy – besides Mai and Ty Lee – and besides, she was something special to her collection. Where Azula’s flames were beginning to be tinged with blue, Katara knew the blues of the waters. They both had their reds and blues. Well, Azula did as it was hardly as if Katara could bend blood.

She had picked Ty Lee because of her acrobatic abilities, her knowledge of chi and amusing belief in aurus (or perhaps because Ty Lee believed in her beauty, in her intelligence in a way that her mother never would).

She had picked Mai because of the fight she could see beneath the stoic demeanor, the cool steak of manipulation she shared (or perhaps because Mai understood control like no one else could).

Azula had never picked Katara, but if by some twist of fate the girl had been among the many girls at the academy, she knew she would have picked her. “Ready?” The girl asked with an impish grin and a gleam to her blue eyes, tying her hair up.

“When am I not?” Azula asked. “Mai?”

The eight year old nodded dubiously. “If you’re sure that’ll delay him.”

“I’m sure it will,” Ty Lee swung into a cartwheel. “Zuko loves anything to do with firebending.” She giggled. “It makes his aura positively purple.”

“It makes his face positively purple,” Azula corrected, voice dry.

Katara stifled a giggle, and Mai took her leave. The three remaining girls watched as Mai struck up conversation with Zuko, awkwardly leading him towards the practice arena.

“Why Mai?” Katara asked after a moment.

Ty Lee burst into giggles, and Azula smirked. “Because Mai is incredibly fond of Zuko, and even Zuko isn’t stupid enough not to know.”

Her dark hands clapped to her mouth, and her eyes widened. “You mean, she _likes_ him?”

Azula nodded.

Katara weighed this over, smiling. “Ah.”

“Ty Lee,” Azula tapped the other girl’s ankle – as she was currently doing a handstand. “Your move.”

“Aye, aye, ‘Zula,” she took a running step towards the roof and managed to vault herself on the top of it. While Ty Lee could be insipid and foolish (and the world would crush her hopeful heart), she was certainly talented. “Are you up now then?”

“Catch me,” she commanded, flipping into the air, the fire twisting and snaking from her hands managing to propel her to the roof. Azula knew, as talented as she was, she couldn’t make it onto the roof on skill and flames alone. Then again, that was why she had Ty Lee. Quick hands caught her wrists, and she was pulled onto the roof.

Ty Lee beamed. “I’d never let you fall.”

 “You know what to do,” Azula called down the waterbender. “Follow me, Ty Lee.” And of course, the girl did. They kept low as they made their way down the roof, avoiding the notice of the guards. She would have to talk to someone about this. The security of the palace was questionable if children could get on the roof without notice.

Ty Lee once again flipped herself onto the higher section off the roof before scaling the tower, but Azula could do that without the other’s aid.

“Wow,” Toph greeted them as they reached the space just above Zuko’s bedroom. “I guess taking a lift from me was out of question? Fancy jumping though, Sizzle.”

“Aw, thanks,” Ty Lee clasped her hands together. “Your aura is looking especially beautiful today, Toph. Good day?”

“I just came back from dance lessons,” the five year old told them brightly. She slid the roof apart. “And you’re in. Thank me later.”

Azula narrowed her eyes. The girl was insolent, but she was young and she proved to be of use. She dropped in, landing gracefully in a crouch. Her eyes swept over the empty room, and she moved over to the wide windows to find the speck of blue below. “Ty Lee?”

“Guards are knocked out,” the girl reported enthusiastically. “How nice of Yue.”

“I meant the rope.”

“Oh. Yes. Here you go!”

The rope was lowered down, and a waterbender came up.

“This is all exciting,” her eyes were shining. “We should do this more.” While, of course, there was a goal in mind, Azula could admit the road to it had been one she enjoyed. There was something satisfactory in breaking the rules, something that distracting and fun.

Fun. How funny.

“Oh,” Katara said after a moment as they dug apart the room, careful about keeping everything as it was. Zuko was neat, but he was nothing to Azula. Azula would know if anything had been moved at all. “Cute.”

“Ooh, what?” Ty Lee asked curiously as Azula slid open another drawer, sifting through the clothes and scrolls.

There was sifting of parchment. “A drawing I made for him.”

“He kept it!”

“I don’t know why. I drew it, and I’m not sure what I drew.”

“Maybe… a sky bison?”

“What? No, those aren’t wings.”

“What are they then?”

Azula interrupted the girl’s chatter with a sigh. “I found something.” They immediately joined her, peering over her shoulder to look at the scroll in her hands.

“It’s blank,” Katara said, brows furrowed.

“No, no,” Ty Lee shook her head. “I can sense powerful vibes. It has a hint of red in its aura.”

It was a puzzle, but there was something about it. “For once, Ty Lee is correct.” She flipped it over, but there was nothing. There was something about it. The parchment felt like Lu Ten’s favorite. He must be in on it. Then it struck her like the lightning that was still caught in her lungs. She brought flames to the parchment, and the ink formed into shapes and arches.

“Is that… “

“It is.”

“Oh… Red is supposed to be for sexual energy, you know.”

“Can that even fit?”

“It doesn’t go… all the way in, do you think?”

“It does in the picture.”

“I can never look at Zuko _again_.”

“No, really, can that fit?”

“I’m very flexible.”

“We know, Ty Lee.”

“Wait…?”

“No! No. This will corrupt our minds.”

“I never thought I could get more corrupted.”

“I’m burning this.”

“No objections from me.”

“But it had such a wonderful aura.”

 

: :

 

 

( _It was winter, and in those softened breezes and warm flames, a new year rose again._ )

Katara caught him in the festivities, and she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before throwing herself into his arms. “Happy New Years, Zuko!”

He hugged back briefly before asking, “Who slipped you the sake?”

She smacked him.

“Happy New Years, Katara.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> n/a   
> WOW IS THAT A LONGER CHAPTER  
> YES IT IS.   
> Sorry if it sucks I was having emotions from an episode of aot I just watched and never again okay. You guys are stars for the kudos and things, so please keep them coming because aaaaa they’re such an inspiration. Also what you want in regards to this fanfic is definitely considered because it’s impulsive writing for me (or me not doing my homework). So let me know your thoughts and enjoy this update! 
> 
> (no really what do you think what are your thoughts share)


	6. Breath

**Breath**

**(n.) air that is taken or expelled from the lungs**

Inhale.

“Water is in your blood.”

“Fire is in your breath.”

Inhale.

“Earth is in your bones.”

Exhale.

“Air is in your lungs.”

Inhale.

“To master – Lady Katara? Did you drink too much tea?”

Snore.

Iroh allowed himself a crinkled smile as he studied the sleeping waterbender, only nine years old, head slumped so her dark hair obscured those thick lashes and the graceful arcs of her dark face. Their deadline was approaching, and that much was transparent in the shadows beneath their eyes. In a year, they would demonstrate their skills not only in front of the Fire Lord but the representatives of the nations.

The weight of the peace fell on their young shoulders.

Princess Yue had taken up the art of knife-fighting with Lady Mai, and these days Iroh feared even entering the weaponry part of the training grounds. Toph had pursued the art of napping (the only thing that attributed to any circles around her eye for her part), but she was confident in her skills. Lady Katara had spent more hours waterbending in the past week than even Zuko.

No one but Iroh and Lu Ten had seen her waterbend.

Now, of course, there were the little things. Katara still played at Pai Sho with Zuko. She poured her tea without touching the tea set. It was as if she feared that if someone saw her whip jets of waters in arcs, shoot ice shards that could outline the tall figure of his son – it would steal them away.

“She fell asleep?” Lu Ten asked, the corner of his lip tugged up as he took a seat.

“Oh, yes,” Iroh chuckled. “It appears my voice is very lulling.”

His son gave him a wry look. “Or she’s exhausted herself. I was moments away from knocking Zuko out so he could get some rest. If Azula hadn’t taunted him into getting some rest, I would have.”

“Azula,” he weighed over his niece’s name. As any uncle would, he worried about her. There was as much power in her hands as there was in Katara. The only difference was that while water might engulf Katara, Iroh knew she would never let herself drown. With Azula, the fire would only eat her alive, and Iroh knew she would like the feeling. He knew what it felt like himself. “I see she shows that she cares in her own way.”

“Whatever it is,” Lu Ten said. “I’m glad for it. Want me to carry Katara back up, Father?”

Iroh frowned. “I don’t doubt your strength, but Katara’s quarters are across the palace. You don’t wish to call a servant?”

“Oh, no, I wasn’t going to do that,” Lu Ten eased the sleeping girl into his arms. “I’ll just drop her off at Zuko’s bed. They spend enough time there anyways. Might as well make it easier for her.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Zuko allowed this?” He strived to notice what he could, but he couldn’t always keep his mind in the palace itself. They might have reached a tentative peace, but there was still a bristling tension beneath the surface, hands that were too used to the ache of a sword.

He laughed. “Yeah, when he’s in a good mood. Then he’s not or she’s not, and they don’t talk for weeks. You’d think they were enemies. Then the next day, they don’t leave each other’s sights. Last night they were trying to stay up longer than the other before I caught the idiots out on it. Like they aren’t exhausted enough.”

“Children need to be foolish while they still can,” Iroh laughed too. He had known from the moment the girl had stepped onto the ship, she would make a good friend for his nephew. They might have been fire and water, but they both had hearts that beat out good. He believed it. He tried.

“They’re more than children,” Lu Ten shifted the waterbender in his arms. “They’re princes and princesses. Ladies and lords. They’re hostages, and the peace depends on them. If I were them, I’d be doing the same.”

“Perhaps,” Iroh nodded. “But that’s all the more reason to be foolish.”

Lu Ten sighed and echoed his earlier words. “While they still can.”

 

: :

 

 

Sokka twisted the staff in his hands, but it still fumbled as he went through the motions. It didn’t feel right there, not the way his boomerang did or a sword. Tribesmen didn’t use boomerangs or swords though, and that was what he wanted to be: a man.

Maybe a man could have stopped Katara from being taken away when all the boy could do was try to make her laugh instead of cry.

(She had done both.)

“Hey, Dad?” He paused, glancing up at the figure of his father who deftly spun the spear (he didn’t practice with staffs) and slashed in to the right and then the left.

“Sokka,” his father smiled down.

“If we see Katara,” he hadn’t breached the subject until he heard the news. “Do you think we can take her home?” Because that was where his sister belonged. In the lands of ice and snow, not somewhere charred with burned bodies and too hot flames.

Hakota frowned, shifting his stance to resting position as he considered his son and the question that hung in the air. “I can’t say I know, Sokka. It would be risky. You must understand. This peace has saved lives. But if she’s being mistreated.” His jaw tightened. “I assure you, we will, son.”

“She hasn’t written home,” Sokka searched the skies for the hawks that never came. “She loved writing, so I can’t see why she hasn’t on purpose.” He remembered his little sister tracing water tribe characters onto parchment, slender hand as deft with a quill as he wished he could be with his spear.

There was a soft clearing of a throat and then the padding of footsteps through the snow. Kya smiled at them. “You two haven’t considered something.”

Hakota took a long stride to reach her, pressing a kiss on her lips. “And what’s that?”

Sokka gagged. “Agh, stop it.”

Kya laughed. “One day you’ll know love, Sokka.” He doubted it. Girls could be pretty, he knew. Katara was kind of pretty. He knew what he loved though, and he knew who he loved. Sokka had loved enough of this world, and he didn’t dare to love too much more. It could be taken from him. “The idea that perhaps Katara loves the Fire Nation. She was taken from us two years ago, Hakota. By now, she’s nine.”

Hakota stiffened. “Training her to think like Fire Nation?”

“That’s what I would do,” Sokka felt a little cold, and it wasn’t just the icy wind that howled a little louder. “If I was them. Take them and make them think like us.”

Kya touched Sokka’s shoulder. “It might not be that.”

“Or maybe it is,” Hakota sighed, and Sokka knew his father didn’t like the doubt or mystery that weighed the air any more than Sokka himself did. “Maybe she might not even want to come home.”

Sokka stared back at the sky, watching longer for the hawks that wouldn’t come.

Except one did, swooping towards them, feathers as dark as ash against the white sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n   
> THIS WAS SLOW but alas I’ve been busy all week. No zuko or Katara in this really, but I kind of needed to move the plot along some. Next chapter is all the kids about a few months later. Now to clarify a few things before I pop out for the night. 
> 
> I also want to address ages. As of now, Katara, Azula and Ty Lee are all nine. Mai is ten. Zuko, Yue and Sokka would be ten. And Toph would be seven. All the adults are old that’s all you need to know.  
> GUYS THE REVIEWS. THEY’RE SO INSPIRING. YOU DON’T KNOW HOW HAPPY I FEEL WHENEVER I SEE THEM. So that said, do please tell me what you think because unf I’m too lazy to address all of these personally but trust me when I say I take your input and thoughts and questions seriously not to mention the super nice compliments.


	7. Fight

 

**Fight**

**(n) a violent confrontation**

The moon had saved her life, but now she carried the burden of atlas. She wore the world on her shoulders, and she didn’t know how they could forget. And she knew they _did_ too, that Katara forgot it was water in her blood instead of fire, that sometimes even Toph’s eyes stopped seeing. Yule was the princess of the North, and she was a tribute to the peace. These things, they mattered more than if she liked sugar with her tea and how she wore her knives.

She could never forget the weight of the world, but today it crushed down on the ten year old, _crushing_ until she should barely hold her head up. Toph carried herself as always, older now at eight. Katara looked like she hadn’t slept at all. Today, they couldn’t forget either.

Azula was unconcerned, bored even.

Zuko was angry, snapping at everyone who talked at him but Katara.

Yue thought that Iroh was right. That all these times his gaze clouded and he murmured _too young_ that he was right. The red-gold flames shuddered, and she tilted her chin up, a princess, fighting against the weight of the world.

“Begin,” said the Firelord, and she did.

The princess had begun wearing long sleeves like Mai, and she stripped the knives from herself, throwing them in an arc. All of them stuck. She kept her face impassive as she worked her way through Mai’s favorite form, slashing at the air, blade cold in her hand. Everyone’s gazes followed her, but it was the Firelord’s that weighed on her.

She stopped, daggers crossed, then knelt.

Yue waited.

“Thank you, Princess Yue,” he said, his voice almost a croak, but she knew what it meant. It meant the peace would hold for some time yet.

 

**: :**

 

 

The wind was warm, teasing her dark hair as she swayed where she stood, poised on one leg. It took Ty Lee a long moment to realize it was hotter than it should be at autumn, and eyes still shut, she twisted up to stand on her hands. Then she opened her eyes, catching the blue spiraling flames twisting and sputtering into the clear blue sky.

A smile brightened her lips, and she began clapping when she saw it was Azula in the midst of these flames. “You did it,” she cheered, walking over to her still on her hands. Then her smile fell. The look on Azula’s face was alien, more like her brother’s. It was fury that colored her flames, not the poised control Ty Lee often saw on her friend’s features.

“I did it,” Azula echoed, eyes on her upturned hands.

“What’s wrong?” She flipped back on her feet, aware of the burn that streaked down her leg from the last time Azula lost control. No, better be on her feet. Not to run from her but to comfort Azula no matter how many burns she might have to take. Afterwards, Azula always asked her, “Why didn’t you _run_ , I always tell you to _run_.”

It wasn’t a question she could answer.

“They passed the test.” Her eyes narrowed.

Ty Lee blinked. “That happened a year ago.” They were ten now, or well, just Azula, Katara and she was ten. Everyone else was eleven. Except Toph.

“Yes,” she said. “And today the Fire Lord decided to grant Katara’s request. In three more years, their families will come. A _peace_ conference.”

“Oh, how lovely,” she clapped again. Azula’s expression darkened. “Or… not lovely? The blue flames were very lovely through.”

This softened her friend’s features. “Thank you, Ty Lee,” she allowed herself a razor-sharp smile. “And no, I’m not pleased. It means they’ll be surrounded by whatever savage family they’re from and forget everything they’ve learn. I’d rather start a war.”

“Oh, you _wouldn’t_ , Zula,” Ty Lee frowned.

She cast a sharp look. “Wouldn’t I?”

She hastened to recover. “I mean, you could! Definitely. But it would make them so happy, and isn’t that nice? A bright yellow aura!” A mischievous smile twisted up her mouth. “Besides, Katara has an older brother. His name is Sokka! She told me. Katara’s cute, so he must be cute too.” So far, so good. She might have been angry enough for blue flames, but she seemed calmer now.

Azula snorted. “He’s Zuko’s age.”

“Why don’t you let me braid your hair?” Ty Lee suggested. “You have such pretty hair.”

Azula stiffened for a moment before she dipped her head in a nod. “Fine, braid my hair.”

They sat in the pavilion, and Ty Lee’s clever hands twisted through her dark hair, winding it into a dark braid, winding their fates closer together.

 

**: :**

They might have been here for peace, but children could never resist a game of war. At least, Zuko couldn’t. It was hostages and Ty Lee against the Fire Nation children. Technically, Team Rainbow against Team Stormy but neither he nor Azula and Mai were entertaining notions of using such an idiotic name.

Lu Ten was the judge.

“Strategy,” two orbs of blue burned away in eleven year old Azula’s hands – and Zuko still couldn’t do the damn thing. “They’ll use Toph as their look-out so we must move light and fast. Take her and Ty Lee out first. After that, Katara and Yue are fair game.”

“Are we splitting up?” Mai held a knife out.

“Would they?” Zuko asked. “They probably would. Pairs of two.”

Azula tilted her head to the side. “Yes, they would. Zuko, you and I’ll take out Toph. Mai, you can certainly handle Ty Lee, can’t you?”

Mai began to nod, but he intercepted. “No, since Toph can hear us coming, we need Mai’s knives. You should handle Ty Lee.”

“Fine,” Azula agreed just as fire burst out from the sides of the tangled thick hedge maze they were playing it, part of the greenery that sprawled out throughout the palace gardens. His sister didn’t hesitate before she twisted to the right, so he and Mai went left.

“This is Toph’s playground,” Zuko warned, keeping on the stone path. While the younger girl wasn’t as good at stone as she was at earth, he couldn’t put it past her. “Earth is everywhere.”

For some reason, there had been a tinge of red on Mai’s high cheekbones from earlier, but it had whitened as her eyes narrowed into concentration. “We need to get her off her feet.”

It was almost more dangerous playing with his friends. The thing was, he couldn’t harm them, and fire existed only to burn the world down. If they were his enemies, he wouldn’t have to exercise as much caution as he had to now. “I’ll heat up the ground so she needs to move,” he said. “You pin her back to the hedges.”

As Mai nodded her assent, the earth stirred beneath her feet, almost knocking her back into Zuko. He steadied her without really looking at her. “She’s close,” he whispered into her ear, and the two ran forward, weaving back and forth to avoid the earth as it trembled and quaked.

Mai cartwheeled forward, and Zuko attempted to follow her through the opening but a hedge shifted to close it before he could. It struck him that Toph could re-arrange the maze to her liking if she wished. They were all playing in her arena.

Zuko whirled around, but the path he had ran through he closed too. But earth could burn. He slashed his hand forward, and the fire burned up the hedges to the other side of him, revealing another path. He used his flames to push himself up just a few inches into the air. Azula could propel herself far into the air, but all he needed to do was move forward without touching the ground.

Finding a branch low enough to the ground, he stopped to catch his breath. It was exhausting, this dull burn of energy, but he had to if he was to sneak up onto Toph. Through the gaps of the hedge, he found his sister and Ty Lee fighting, but there was no fire. Ty Lee must have blocked Azula’s chi because it was the swing of legs, the strike of palms. She was their best player, and this was no good.

Toph had to go down, and there was no knowing what Katara and Yue was doing.

Sneaking into the center, he realized he had been wrong. They had all stuck together except for Ty Lee, and it was three against one, Mai in the center with a knife poised at all three of them. It was stalemate, and no one was moving. He had to give credit to Mai for holding up on her own for the past few minutes.

It was the hardest thing he had ever done, keeping himself above the ground and still slowly heating up where Toph stood, hands slightly raised. Toph stumbled forward, and Mai let go off one of her knives, pinning her back. “Ugh,” Toph scowled, twisting. “Stupid Firebender clothes, ugh – _Zuko_.”

The water from the fountain at the very center of the maze (and of course Katara would be here, what had he been thinking?) surged at him, but he ran forward just a beat in front of the water, directly at Katara. “Ready to lose, waterbender?” He asked. Close-ranged fighting was his specialty.

“If you’re ready to drown, firebender,” Katara grinned, ice swiveling to hit him.

“Hah,” Zuko scoffed, fire spiraling from his hands. He had to admire the picture of Katara spiraling too, avoiding every length of flame. “Lu Ten teach you that?” It seemed like one of his moves.

“Yes,” Katara shot him a smile, and it was almost as disarming as the pulse of water that knocked him to his knees.

Next to them, metal and blades clashed. It was teacher against student, but he had faith Mai would prevail. He let out a burst of flame where she stood, and she only barely twisted to avoid the heat. He liked sparring with Katara best. She, at least, could heal herself.

He tried to pick himself up, but another wave of water sent him crashing down again. Sparring was more than the clashing of elements through. Zuko slid forward to grab her legs, sending her crashing down with him too. She let out a laugh as she stumbled down with him, using ribbons of water to freeze him into place, scrambling up as he burned his way to his feet.

“Give up yet?” She asked, grinning.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” a burst of flame from Zuko had her spinning to the side, but he caught her by the side of her robes, a flame held to her throat. “Yield.”

Something sharp and cold was pressed to his throat in return, and she smiled. “Yield.”

“I’ll burn you before you can cut me,” he pointed out.

“But you won’t burn me,” Katara said, sing-song and unyielding.

He held the flame closer, controlled. “You can heal yourself.” One of his hands were curled around the small of her back to hold her in place with the other against Katara’s throat, but in locking himself to her, he had done the same to her. Ice was held to his throat, and the only way to retract was to burn her or to let go of her. Stalemate.

“Uh, guys?” Ty Lee’s bright voice interrupted them. “I got the flag. Yay, Team Rainbow!”

The two of them unraveled from each other, Zuko breathless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n  
> baaaaack with a new chapter! let me know what you think <333  
> for reference, the characters grow throughout this chapter, with a new year with each perspective. this ends with zuko, yue and sokka at twelve; katara, azula and ty lee at eleven and lovely toph at nine.   
> I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. COMMENTS/KUDOS ARE LOVED.


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